I had the luxury of spending a few weeks with Samsung’s Neo QLED 990F, and I can say right away that it is one of the most complete televisions I’ve ever tested and on the market. It’s powerful, bright, beautifully designed, and filled with smart features that make it feel less like a technical showcase and more like a thoughtful living-room centerpiece.
While it has a few quirks that keep it from being perfect, none of them overshadow what Samsung has accomplished here.
When you turn it on for the first time, the picture immediately feels clean and rich. The 990F is Samsung’s flagship 8K Mini LED TV for 2025, powered by the company’s NQ8 AI Gen3 processor and a host of new features grouped under what Samsung calls Vision AI. The idea is simple. The TV should think along with you, recognizing how you watch, what you’re watching, and even the lighting in the room. After a few days of regular use, it becomes clear that it actually works.
Design and Setup
An incredibly thin bezel makes the TV appear is if it’s floating. Image/Zachary Comeau
The first thing anyone will notice is how clean this TV looks. The 990F’s Infinity Air Design almost eliminates bezels entirely, creating the illusion that the picture is floating in space. The cabinet is thin and elegant, and the build feels every bit as premium as the price suggests. Setup is definitely a two-person job given the set’s weight.
Then there’s the Wireless One Connect Box. Samsung has been refining this system for years, but this version is the first to transmit everything wirelessly, including 8K at 120 Hz. It works through a Wi-Fi 7 connection with a range of about 30 feet, and in practice, it’s impressive. I tucked the box into a closed cabinet in the stand it was on and never saw a single signal dropout. That made my setup incredibly clean. No cluster of HDMI cables, no trying to hide a bulky box behind the TV.
There are still two pieces to the system: the wireless input box that handles your sources and a power supply box that connects to the back of the TV. That second box adds a little complexity to placement, but it’s a small tradeoff for what is otherwise a very clean installation experience.
The matte anti-glare finish also helps make placement more flexible. It help neutralize harsh reflections from overhead lights and windows. As is the case with some anti-glare screens, the coating and sometimes pick up light and wash out contrast slightly in dark scenes. It is not a dealbreaker, but it’s something to keep in mind if the TV is in a bright room.
Picture Quality
The picture quality, in my opinion, is where the 990F earns its flagship label. Samsung’s new AI processor and the 8K AI Upscaling Pro system produce incredible clarity. Even standard 4K content looks sharper and more dimensional than I expected. Bright scenes absolutely explode with color and depth, while dark scenes retain detail without turning into a gray blur.
Peak brightness in HDR mode reaches roughly 2,000, which is enough to make specular highlights look real. In a movie like The Revenant, sunlight glinting off snow looks piercing and lifelike without blowing out the details. In The Lord of the Rings, the glow of torchlight against dark stone feels natural and rich.
Films like “The Revenant” look incredible on the Samsung Neo QLED 990F.
Color performance is also excellent. Samsung advertises coverage of more than 90 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and that appears to be the case. In Movie mode, skin tones looked accurate, water and sky gradients appeared smooth, and the overall palette never leaned too warm or too cool. Switching to AI Picture mode pumps up brightness and saturation for sports or animation, and it works as intended. When I watched Planet Earth, the greens and blues felt just a little extra vivid, but not cartoonish.
Filmmaker Mode or Movie Mode help maintain the director’s intent with more natural color and tone mapping, but I usually stuck with AI Picture mode for those incredibly vibrant colors.
One of the only drawbacks of this display is that the matte coating that makes it so usable in bright rooms also diffuses blacks a little. Compared to OLED screens, you lose a bit of depth in darker scenes, especially in bright daylight. It is mild and well-controlled, but not completely invisible.
Gaming and Motion
For the casual gamer, the TV is a treat. It supports 4K at up to 240 Hz, 8K at 120 Hz, and includes FreeSync Premium Pro and Samsung’s Game Bar for quick settings adjustments. Motion performance is excellent. I played Star Wars Jedi Survivor via Samsung Gaming Hub (an incredible cloud gaming feature for casual gamers) and the action felt fluid and crisp with no motion blur or ghosting. Input response was quick enough that I never felt disconnected from the game.
That said, the wireless connection adds some input lag compared to Samsung’s wired models that more hardcore gamers may have an issue with. For most games, that is fine. For competitive PC gaming, it could be noticeable.
Sports and action movies benefit from the TV’s Motion Xcelerator 240 Hz system and AI Motion Enhancer Pro. Football looked exceptionally smooth without introducing the dreaded soap-opera effect. Fast camera pans during live games stayed sharp, and motion blur was virtually nonexistent.
Audio Performance
The 990F’s built-in audio is far better than you would expect from such a slim cabinet. Samsung packs in a 6.2.4-channel system rated at 90 watts, and it delivers surprisingly full, balanced sound. Dialogue in Alien: Earth on FX came through cleanly, even over heavy sound effects. The TV’s Object Tracking Sound Pro technology helps make audio follow on-screen movement, creating a subtle but effective sense of directionality.
For serious home theaters, you’ll still want a soundbar or external speakers. Samsung’s Q-Symphony feature allows the internal speakers to integrate with compatible Samsung soundbars, expanding the soundstage without needing to disable the TV’s own drivers. For my test, I stuck with the TV’s internal speakers, which were honestly impressive for TV speakers.
AI Features and Everyday Use
Samsung’s Vision AI platform adds several small but meaningful touches. The AI Picture Mode automatically adjusts picture and sound to match your environment and the type of content on screen. It’s subtle enough to be useful without feeling gimmicky. Click to Search lets you highlight an actor or object and pull up related information without pausing your show. Live Translate can translate real-time captions into multiple languages, which is surprisingly handy when watching international broadcasts.
Tizen OS 9 feels smoother and faster than before, with simplified menus and a better-organized Smart Hub. The setup process takes only a few minutes, and the SolarCell remote charges itself from ambient light. Integration with SmartThings and AirPlay 2 worked without issue.
After several weeks, it’s clear that the 990F’s biggest challenge has nothing to do with its engineering. It’s the lack of native 8K content. Everything I watched was upscaled from 4K or lower. The upscaling is exceptional, but the industry still hasn’t delivered a meaningful library of true 8K material.
The other limitation is price. At $5,499 for the 65-inch version (on sale for $3,999), it’s definitely priced as a premium TV. The largest model, the 98-inch, is a whopping $34,999 (on sale for $29,999).
Verdict
The Samsung Neo QLED 990F is one of the most refined televisions Samsung has ever built. It delivers outstanding brightness, lifelike color, and remarkably sharp upscaling that makes every piece of content look its best. The wireless connection system simplifies installation in a way that feels genuinely useful, not just gimmicky. The sound system is strong, the design is beautiful, and the smart features are actually practical.
It isn’t perfect. The matte coating can reduce contrast in certain lighting, the wireless link adds a bit of lag, and the lack of Dolby Vision support continues to stand out. The ongoing shortage of native 8K content also means much of what you see is still upscaled. But as a complete package, this TV represents the peak of what LCD-based technology can do today.
For anyone building a premium living room or home theater who values clean design, powerful AI processing, and sheer picture punch, the 990F is a showpiece that performs as well as it looks.
Pros
- Wireless One Connect Box simplifies installation and eliminates cable clutter
- Exceptionally bright picture with strong HDR performance
- Excellent color accuracy and upscaling
- Matte glare-free screen reduces reflections in bright rooms
- Robust built-in audio with 6.2.4-channel 90W system and Q-Symphony support
- Smart, responsive Tizen OS with practical AI features like Vision AI, Live Translate, and Click to Search
Cons
- Matte coating can slightly reduce contrast in certain lighting
- Wireless connection adds mild input lag for competitive gaming
- Limited availability of native 8K content
- Premium price compared to high-end 4K alternatives
